Network servers are often used to host data for distribution to large numbers of client computers. When transferring data to/from another computer on the network, the central processing unit (“CPU”) of the network server acts as traffic cop for transfers of data across the network. The CPU must repeatedly interrupt application processing to execute its network protocol stack and thereby service the data transfer requests. Thus, each bit of input/output (“I/O”) transferred by the CPU of the network server slows down application processing also executing on the CPU. As 1 Gbit and 10 Gbit Ethernet networks are deployed, even a CPU running at 1 GHz has little hope of keeping up with I/O demands.
Often, networks having large numbers of network servers are provisioned or repurposed over the network using a boot server. The boot server transfers provisioning and/or repurposing data to the network servers. This provisioning and/or repurposing data can be multi-Gbit files. Thus, 1 Gbit or 10 Gbit networks can easily swamp a CPU executing a network protocol stack in software, thereby prolonging a network server's provisioning and/or repurposing time.